


Flesh and Blood

by You_are_perfect



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF!Hide, Fight Scene, Gore, Hate to Love, Hurt/Comfort, If you are expecting romance that will come reslly late, M/M, Magic-Users, Mystery, OOC, OS!Kaneki, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Platonic Relationships, Secrets, This doesnt really follow the original tg, Vamp!Hide, but most fanfic like that anywau, more tag to be added later, this more focused to Hide btw, this probably will be a bit violent and all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 18:10:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4532130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_are_perfect/pseuds/You_are_perfect
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ghouls are not the only creature that feast on human only...</p><p>You and I Are Just Alike -> Flesh and Blood</p><p>*I change the title because the old one sounds weird*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Imagine you are walking in the middle of night on your own. Empty street with flickering light, it make you feel alone and isolated. Without people to accompany you, there is no guarantee that you are safe. You have to be cautious and sensitive with your surroundings. Goosebumps all over your body as you try your best to survive without anyone's help. Everything seem to be dangerous to you. Something bad could happen to you at time like this. You are afraid.

Fear is what make you afraid. Fear is simple yet dangerous. It affects our everyday life. It holds us back from our goals and dream. It make everything seems wrong and bad. It is one of the negative aspect in out life that everyone wanted to avoid.

People despise fear. But not me.

I live on with it.

***

Pain started to succumb all over his body. He tried his best to get up and escape, but he was too shocked and scared to move right now. He could not believe with his eyes. A masked man with powerful strength just threw him away straight to the brick wall without no sweats. The young man prayed that somebody would save him now. He was not ready to die yet!

"Haven't you see a horror movie, kid? You can never outrun from your own death," the assailant's sinister voice stated it as he inched closer to the victim. He could smell his fear from the innocent and oh, what a lovely scent he had here!

He was so hungry right now...

"HEY!"

The man with clown mask snarled and turned his head toward the source of the voice. An older-looking man with police uniform was holding a gun toward him. He must be brave to be here as his hand did not even shook for a slightest. But that did not change the fact that he was an idiot to interrupt his meal.

"Put your hand where can I see them!" the policeman ordered the masked man. His fierce and steel eyes was fixated to his target only. You could tell that he had no hesitation to shot him under worse circumstances. 

The masked man chuckled before he lifted his hand to the air. When he believed the right time has come, he unleashed his kagune out from his body. A single rinkaku flailed around in front of them. The masked man --the ghoul-- smirked when the scent of fear striked up in his vicinity.

The policeman gasped in shock when he realized what he was against with. Out of instinct, he pulled his trigger and shot the ghoul for a few times. The bullets did not worked out like he planned as most of them did not even scratched the ghoul. He forgot that ghoul's body are sturdier and stronger than human. Every one of them fell on the ground after they hit the ghoul.

The ghoul laughed with the police's useless attempt. Paying back, his rinkaku pushed the police away from him and his victim. The older man groaned in pain when his back hit the solid surface of the ground. He knew he was weaker than a ghoul, but he cannot let an innocent die under his watch.

"Now, where were we?" the rinkaku user focused back to his 'food'. He cracked his knucles a few times, having less patience at this time right now. Now that the distraction was gone, he should start to eat right now.

Unexpectedly, the policeman got up and grabbed the ghoul from behind. He shouted to the young man to run right now. As if finally got his sense back, the civillian quickly escape from this dark alley. He did not date to look back.

Annoyed, the masked man pushed the old man away from him. When the human's back hit the concrete wall, he coughed for a while and a few drip of blood was poured out too. He tried to stand up back and fight.

Before he got any chance, the rinkaku stabbed straight to his stomach. Leaving a very big wound on his body. The old man's eyes widened in surprised. At this moment, he realized that his time has come.

"He got away because of you," the masked man muttered as he knelt down next to his newest victim. His voice was soft, but there was a hidden anger inside it. He stared down to the open wound on the human. Young people taste better than middle-aged man, but his belly was grumbling right now.

"I guess you'll have to do," the ghoul pulled off his mask and smirked slyly to this poor human. Another rinkaku appeared out from his back. Time to dig in!

A loud scream in the dark alley scared off some bird near the scene. Nobody saw what happen that night.

***

Another night, another kill. That's how I do it. Usually.

I can't help it. Being a ghoul, there is not much of option for us to survive. Our diet are different than human. Their flesh is what kept us alive. It might sound horrible, us ghouls killing human just to eat them. But then again, aren't human just the same too? They killed animal in order to survive. The principle is the same, just with different substances.

Human to us, is what animal to human. They just food.

Ghouls led a harsh live. Only the strong one can keep their heads on. Those who are weak would find their way to met Angel of Death easily.

In this 20th ward, every ghouls around here know that I'm the strongest here. No one can defeat me. Not even those CCG.

Or so I thought.

***

"Kaneki!"

Kaneki was cleaning some of the cups in Anteiku when a high-school girl shouted his name. When he looked back, he saw Touka-chan with a newspaper in her hand. Even if she covered one of her eyes, he could tell that she was pretty pissed off with him now. He wondered why.

"Did you do this?!" Touka pointed to the picture of a dead policeman from last night. There was an article about it, but Kaneki paid no attention to that. When he looked to the picture, he just shrugged off and continued his job.

"Answer me, you dumbass!" Touka growled in anger. He hated to be ignored like that. Even if Kaneki had been her colleague and friend, that did not meant that he liked him. Kaneki was one of the rudest ghoul she ever meet!

"So what if I did? You know why I did this," Kaneki replied back without facing her. His mind was full for other stuff right now but none of them was about Touka's outburst to him.

Plus, people die everyday. So accept it.

"You could just ask some from Manager. He can provide you some food if you wanted to," Touka sighed as she threw the newspaper aways from her. She still confused why would he refused to accept a help from Anteiku. The point of this cafe was to supply food for those ghouls in 20th ward.

"Need I to remind you that they are for weak ghouls that cannot hunt?" Kaneki cocked his eyebrows toward Touka. He was finally done with his work and leaned to the wall for support. He crossed his arm and huffed his breath in annoyance. Touka can be unbearable sometime to him despite the fact they had beem friend for a few month.

The female ghoul was about to sat something when Kaneki interrupted "Let's not forget the fact that I am strong. I have no problem to hunt for my own food. So I don't really have the need to ask for some help here".

"But that doesn't change the fact that you are an idiot" Touka sighed as she rubbed her temple. This guy have a big ego for his own good. Is it really a nuisance for him to ask food from them?

Kaneki giggled before he added "Relax, Touka. I'll be fine. Beside, no one can hurt me. You don't have to worry about me".

"Don't be so confident about that. Sooner or later, you're gonna meet someone that could kick your ass" she retorted.

Kaneki just smiled about that. He doubted that will happen.

***

It was full moon tonight.

Kaneki was out again. With his clown mask to cover his identity, he went out for a hunt. Sure he already a few days ago, but it would not be hurt for him to have some 'snack' later. No matter how many times the humans have been told, there will always an idiot that choose to ignore the curfew. Humans are stubborn creature.

He lurked around in the darkness until he saw a silhouette of a figure nearby a streetlamp. That said person was situated between dark alley. Kaneki smirked, he was right all along. There was someone outside here in the middle of night after what just happen.

"You know it's unwise for you to be here," Kaneki spoke as he approached the person. The ghoul could not see their face due to the darkness and position. The person was standing with their back facing Kaneki. However, that did not matter to him. That person will die anyway.

"You could get hurt, you know" Kaneki remarked before he leaped out to attack them. His kakugan flared out when his desire to eat started to rise up. Something about this person have different scent for his nose...

Of all the thing that happened, he did not expected go be kick by his own victim. When their feet hit Kaneki's stomach, the ghoul coughed out some blood and landed back on the solid ground. He was unable to comprehend this. Did he just got assailed by someone else? That was impossible!

The figure stepped closer and revealed themselves under the streetlamp. He was wearing a typical gentleman suit over his body. Long, bright hair with brown root on his head was tied meticulously. Pale skin as snow coloured his face and neck as if there was no blood. A pair of hazelnut eyes was staring down to Kaneki who was still lying down on the ground.

"Ghouls" the standing person snorted "They think they so tough".


	2. Chapter 2

"So, you're really leaving?"

"Yup,"

"There's nothing I could do to make you stay with me?"

"You've been a good master to me for a very long time and I appreciate every of it. But I want to be independent. Besides, this is my responsibility,"

"You do realize what you are dealing with? This is not just some walk at the park,"

"I know, but I need to do this. So please, will you let me go?"

"Fine, but do remember I will not be there to look after you,"

"You know you can stop being a mother hen to me. I'm not going to break that easily,"

"Promise me one thing,"

"Anything as long as I can leave now, sire,"

"Just don't get into any trouble, Hide,"

"Okay, mom,"

***

Just like any rebellious child, of course the first thing that he did was to break the rule.

***

It was his first night at Japan and he was lost right now in the middle of the city.

The young(?) vampire, Hide, was wandering aimlessly in the midnight street. He looked around his surrounding, ignoring the tiny scream in his mind that kept saying he should head back to the hotel. His master probably would say that it was dangerous to be out here this late. But then again, what should he worried about?

For God's sake, he is not the old, fragile vampire he used to be!

Without any thought or plan in his mind, he decided to be outside at the ungodly hour. After all, night to vampire is like morning to human. He just wanted to enjoy his first midnight stroll without a fuss from his master. That old man can be a bit unbearable to him.

Under the moonlight, Hide gazed to the little shop and place around him. He recognized some of the road and street even if it had been for years since he left this place. He was hit by a sense of nostalgic when he got back to here. If not because of his original goal, Hide probably would not be back to here. The old memories rekindle again and he wished to ignore every of it.

But he could not. No matter how ugly it is, there are some part of it that are cherished by him. He has no heart to delete it from his head. Those memories were what made him remember who was he before all this.

When he passed through a particular alley nearby a streetlamp, Hide stopped his track and went backwards for a few steps. He stared into the alley before he walked deeper into this place. This place had changed but the memory of this spot still in his head. He closed his eyes and had a short flashback suddenly.

_I accept..._

"You know it's unwise for you to be here,"

Hide opened his eyes and started to focus with the owner of this voice. That was certainly not a human because they had different scent from this. Obviously not a vampire because their voice was sinister and dark, whereas his kind always had husky and soft voice.

He remembered that Tokyo had trouble with a group of flesh-eating monster. So, this might be one of them.

The bright-haired vampire hid his grin from his 'newly' acquitance. Most people would say that ghouls are powerful creature. However, that was only because none of them had encounter a vampire. This was getting interesting to him.

As he heard the ghoul's movement was getting near to him, Hide prepared himself with a spontaneous attack. He turned his back and wasted no time to kick the ghoul's ass (or stomach to be precise). The painful groan that came out from the ghoul's voice made Hide a little bit smug. He was a bit dissapointed though since the ghoul's face was covered with clown mask.

Oh well, that is not important right now.

Slowly, he inched closer to the lying ghoul. He cocked his head high a little bit and stared to his assailant. Even if this non-human creature had their mask, Hide was pretty sure that they were shocked to no end right now. The vampire did not blame the ghoul. There are not many lucky people or ghoul that have the chance to meet with creature of the night.

"Ghoul," Hide snorted and continued "They think they so tough".

The young vampire spoke the word 'so' a little bit longer in dramatical way. He even rolled up his eyes when he say those words. He really cannot help it! The sight of surprising ghoul to meet with him was enetertaining to him. He pretty sure they have thousand question in their mind and nothing of it consist of vampire.

One of the perk of being a vampire was they were considered as a myth. That is why they hardly being hunted. Well, that did not change the fact they do being hunted by some group of people. But unlike ghoul, most people thought vampire does not exist.

As he expected, the ghoul in clown mask hissed in rage and got up on their heel to attack him again. They even released their kagune from their back. Four tentacle appeared at the back of their body, so he must be a rinkaku. Hide had been told that of all kind of kagune, rinkaku was the strongest one even if they are easily brittle.

Oh, it had been a long time since he got a fight with a ghoul. Hide could not wait for it to happen again.

With his hand in his pocket, he avoided every of their stab swiftly as if he was dancing. He taunted the ghoul to try harder with a proud smirk plastered over his face. The vampire had a very enjoying time in this even if the other party was certainly pissed off with this situation.

He was glad that the were no bystander that could witnessed this fight. It could be a bit messy if they had an audience. 

"Come on chap, is that the best you could do?" Hide snickered as he still stood proudly when the rinkaku user panted heavily for their breath. Not even a sweat was formed over Hide's body. It appeared that he made the ghoul really exhausted.

"I KILL YOU!"

The ghoul roared and immediately jumped forward to him. Their rinkaku kept moving toward the target repeatedly. They hit everywhere around them, but none of them managed to left a scratch on the man in suit. He still danced around the ghoul in this dark alley.

Unexpectedly, the vampire placed his hand to the ghoul's neck and pinned them to the concrete wall. Not strong enough to suffocate them, but enough to make them feel the pressure. The rinkaku went limp as their owner went defenceless out of the blue. The masked man was unable to move not even an inch.

"I would like to have a lovely chat with you someday, but I need to get going now. Goodbye sweetie," Hide winked and grabbed one of their hand to left it with a kiss. The ghoul fell down onto the ground when the bright-haired man finally let him go.

Without wasting a second, Hide flee from the scene in a flash. To the ghoul's eyes, he seemed to be dissapeared into thin air.

***

It was bright, sunny day at this time. Birds chirped on the branch and people's chattering around the city. Everyone was out to do their stuff.

But for the vampire, he chose to close the window and covered the sunlight with the curtain. Most rumours and myth about vampire were lit, but there were some of thrm that hold the truth. For example, vampire do cannot be exposed to the sun. If they got touched by the sunlight, their skin could be easily burn. It would not lead to sudden death of course, but it was painful for vampire to be outside when the sun was out. That is why they prefer the night than day.

Hide stayed in one of the hotel in Tokyo. He used fake alias to check in to this place. The vampire had to pretend to be human or else trouble will find him everywhere. Right now, he need to focus on his personal task.

In his room, Hide was staring to his unconscious 'meal' on his bed. When he got back from the fight last night, his belly grumbled for something. Occasionally, human's food was sufficed for his hunger. But it had been for a few days since he last fed from human. He need to drink or else he would turn crazy for the lack of it.

He called one of the maid to bring him something to his room. When she came, he puffed out his vampire's breath to her that rendered her to faint. It was really convenient to have sleeping gas inside your own body.

He laid her down onto his bed and pushed her hair away. This is to get a better access of her tender neck. To be fair, he could just drink her from her legs or arm. But then, Hide just prefer to get a sip from his victim's neck. He could be a little bit traditionalist sometime.

He used his sharp claw and left a small wound on it. Without wasting any time, he sucked on her neck and drank from there. He did not took a lot, just enough for his hungry belly. Hide did not want to kill anyone anymore. The vampire was done with it.

When he was done, he used his spit to cover the wound on her neck. Then, he left his bed and sat on the chair at the opposite of it. He tried to think rethink about his plan again. He was here to find someone. Hide had no problem to look for a missing item or a person. But his target was something else. They could just hide under your nose and you would not even notice them. So he need a better plan.

While he was thinking, he saw the maid was twitching a bit. Before she woke up in this place, Hide opened the door and carried her our from his room. He carefully leaned her to the nearest wall and went back to his room. She might be questioning him when she woke up on his bed. That will not left a good image.

Hide peeked out from the curtain and saw a coffee shop nearby the hotel. Last time, his target told him they like coffee. The bitterness from the dark liquid was exotic for their throat and they loved every drop of it no matter of what kind.

Maybe he could start his searching at the coffee shop this night.

***

It was already twilight now.

Hide was in front of Anteiku, one of the coffee shop he just found. He looked into there through the window glass and saw some people were drinking coffee while hanging out with someone else. The workers seemed to be relax as there were not many people at this time.

Hide grumbled in dissapointment when the person he was looking for was not here. However, since he was already here, he could try a cup of coffee at here. It smells wonderful from here.

He opened the door and stepped in to this place. The quiet chattering and aromatic fragrance was pleasant to him. This place was really calming.

Hide was about to look for a place to sit when a black-haired man in barista suit suddenly grabbed his collar and pushed him to the wall. It was crystal clear that he was angry when they were gritting his teeth and murder look on his face.

"You..." the barista growled under their breath as they stared daggers to Hide. The vampire was surprised, but he managed to hold his cool in front of him.

From his expression and his action, Hide had no problem to recognize this person. After all, Hide never forget anyone that encountered into his life no matter how well they hide themselves. He could tell why was this barista appeared to want to kill him.

"I'm sorry but, have we meet before?" Hide asked with innocent tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here we got about Hide in this story. I really enjoyed to write his part. Hope you guys like it! And I'm still busy with school.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its really hard to write Kaneki's part. I just don't know how to hate Hide.

Of all night he had to endure, yesterday was the worst.

Kaneki had never been humiliated like this. For the first time in forever, he, a powerful ghoul in 20th Ward, had been defeated by a mere stranger. He was not ghoul or CCG, just a plain ordinary person in appearance. From first look, everyone might sharing the same thought with him: Weak person.

But as the old saying say, never judge a book by its cover.

As if the sore all over his body was not enough, Touka-chan even added the pain to his wound. He could see the smug look from her face as if expressing 'I told you so' to him. She told him to never be so proud and all, yet Kaneki listen none to that. The male ghoul did not took Touka's advice with all seriousness.

Now, who was smiling now?

Kaneki tried his best to hide his pain as he kept working in Anteiku. His back was hurt, his muscle was starting to cramp, his body felt every consequences after fighting the man in suit. He even had to ignore Touka's snickering face as he groaned in hurt at the counter.

He was about to go to the staff room when a familiar face came into the cafe. It did not take him more than a minute for him to recognize the new customer. Long blonde hair, big amber eyes and snow-white skin. Oh, he know this guy!

Without thinking, Kaneki jumped out from the counter and pinned that man to the wall. His mind mentally created a thousand ways of him to take this man's life out from his core. He glared daggers to him and acted intimidating to see him squirming under his touch.

When the blondie pretend to not knowing him with innocent voice, anger started to bubbling inside Kaneki's body. All Kaneki wanted right now was to wipe out the pretence on the stranger's face with his bare hand. It would not be that hard to do it at here...

"KANEKI!"

The female barista shouted to her colleagues as she tried to pull him away from their customer. The blondie in suit finally free from Kaneki's grasp. While Kaneki had to hear Touka's lecture about his rudeness, the other one just dusted off his jacket with a restrained smirk. The male ghoul clenched his fist as he tried to hold his urge from punching his face.

"I'm really sorry for his impolite act, sir! Please forgive him!" Touka bowed down to their customer as she pushed Kaneki's head to the ground. The three of them could hear Kaneki's bone cracking under her touch. It seemed that his wound would take a long time to get better.

"Oh, it's okay miss. It's not everyday for me to be pinned up by a dashing man like him," the man in suit chuckled lightly in amusement. Kaneki felt like his ear could bleed if that man talk another word. He could just get up from his position but he cannot afford any Touka's rambling for his attitude.

"The name is Hide, by the way. What's your, my knight in shining armor?" the blondie, Hide, introduced himself to Touka. He extended his hand for her to shake with the female worker. His flirtatious voice somehow made the young lady flustered all over her face.

"Ki--Kirishima Touka. Call me Touka," the short-haired teenager accepted his hand and unconsciously swept her hair behind her ear. She even started to let go of Kaneki from her habd. Something about this new customer made her felt nervous for no reason.

"What a lovely name for a gorgeous lady like you, Touka," Hide knelt down and kissed her hand. Touka was screaming internally while Kaneki bulged his eyes like toad. What the fuck is he doing?

"Well, t--thank you..." Touka's voice become softer and her face become beet red. Never in her life any guy would dare to treat her like this. Now, she understand why every main female character in romance movie got a little bit weak when someone flirted or complimented them like this. It was embarassing and endearing.

Kaneki was internally judging Touka right now. This girl always hit Kaneki occasionally and able to kill people or ghoul in cold blood. How ironic for a strong, female ghoul like her could be melt under a man's word. Is it that easy for this stranger to make her knee trembled in this way?

Kaneki felt like he wanted to vomit on the spot.

After Hide placed a kiss on her hand, he got up and spoke "It would be wonderful if I could drink a coffee of yours from this place. Sadly, I forgot that I have a business to attend. I hope you wouldn't mind about that,"

"Oh, it's fine..." Touka tried to appear okay, but Kaneki could sense a dissapointment from her voice. That made Kaneki cocked his eyebrow. She just met with him and she felt that way? Hide must have his way to lure some girls like Touka here.

Hide smiled sincerely to her and stepped forward to the door. Before he left, he turned his body and waved his hand toward them.

"I'll come here later, Touka, Kaneki," Hide had his devious glint when he focused to Kaneki alone. The male ghoul just wanted this guy to leave this place now before he become crazy.

Just like that, the odd and flirty customer left Anteiku.

***

"You're kidding me right?"

"If I'm kidding, then why would I did that?"

"He doesn't look like he could harm a fly,"

"I say the same to you, yet here you are,"

Touka chortled loudly and held her belly as if she just heard a funniest joke. The thought that Kaneki was beaten up by a man they just met this evening was somehow amusing. She could imagined how it horribly went for this male ghoul. It must be hurt for his ego pride to meet someone that literally could defeated him like that.

Kaneki pouted his mouth when she laughed at his bad predicament. He did not want to tell her the truth why he was being vicious to Hide, but that girl would not stop asking until he gave her the answer. She promised she will not think of it as a joke. Now, what a big liar she was.

"I'm so sorry, Kaneki! It just, wow! You, of all people I know, can kill a group of Doves without no sweat at all. To think that ONE young man could make you like this just..." Touka had to stop talking and laughing before her belly burst again.

Kaneki just silent for a while. He was thinking about Hide deep in his thought. There was something off about him. Something that he could not put his finger on.

Hide did not smell like a ghoul or human. There was no sense of RC cell on him and that sweet, enticing scent that only came from human. Hide had neither of them. His scent was more similar with fog and wilted flower. He even had a faint fragrance of corpse around him. Which was weird, what kind of person that possessed different smell than other?

Not to mention his speed and strength. He was much more powerful than any human or ghoul. His speed was something else as Kaneki could not caught up with Hide. How did he disappeared that easily was something his mind could not comprehend yet.

He admitted he wanted to kill the guy because of what he done to him. However, he was curious about Hide's real identity. He needed to know who was he or rather, **what** was he?

Kaneki's lips started to smirk. It had been a long time since something interesting happen to him. Maybe Hide could provide him some fun.

After all, he knew someone like Hide would have a lot of enemies. He would not let anybody to take the honour of taking Hide's life out of his body. If there is anyone who would do that, it will be Kaneki.

***

Kaneki strolled around the midnight city just like he did before. Unlike usual, he did not search for any human to eat. He was looking for a particular person that got his interest and also someone he hated dearly. He did not know what to do, but maybe he could started this at midnight.

Kaneki did not wore his mask as if he felt no need to use it. He was not hunting right now so there is worry for that. Well, technically he was hunting for someone but it was for different reason.

"Looking for me, darling?"

Kaneki turned his back and found the owner the of the husky voice. Hide was clad in dark trench coat with his hair being loose. He was standing under a lamp post with his hand crossed over his chest. His hair was being blewn slightly by the cold breeze of the night.

Kaneki should not think like this, but Hide looked really breathtaking. An air of mysterious and cheekiness was fitting him like a glove in an odd way.

"If I said yes, what will you do?" Kaneki asked as stepped closer to Hide.

Hide grinned before he replied "I would say it will be dangerous for you, but ghouls always in dangerous situation so that would be an useless advice,"

"Do you know how much I desired to rip off your heart before your eyes?" Kaneki blatantly expressed his desire to the blonde-haired man.

"Everyone said that to me and none of them managed to take my life away. I'm pretty sure the same would happen to you," Hide rolled his eyes.

"People must be really hate you with all their heart, huh"

"Not just people,"

Silence hang around them. Thr cold wind touched their body as they were in their own mind. Hide acted as if he was vulnerable but after what he had went through, Kaneki did not think it would be wise to just fight him at here. He needed to make strategy first. Plus, he had a question in his mind that he needed to know.

"What are you?"

"That, is a question that you need to find the answer by yourself," Hide refused to tell Kaneki his identify.

Before Kaneki said anything, Hide dissapeared again into thin air. Kaneki started to get annoyed with that act.

"I'm gonna make you regret later, Hide" Kaneki vowed to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got exam right now. I should focus with them right now but it is hard. And also, it is hard for me to write fight scene.

_Drip_

_Drip_

_Drip_

_Blood kept dripping down to the ground._

_A little boy sat on the ground, eyes focused to his hand. Ruby red blood painted his hand. Dusty floor tainted with the same scarlet liquid. A small blade laid on the ground innocently, had also been smeared with the blood at the tip of it._

In front of him was a dead man with vacant eyes that stared to the ceiling. His gaped mouth was clearly shown that he was surprised by something. His body had been wounded with thousand gash and slices. Not to mention of his left chest had left a hole on his body. He was clearly stabbed with a very sharp weapon more than once. His heart had been ripped out from his body.

_To make it worse, that man had been decapitated._

_He did not understand why he felt nothing. The little boy was so confused right now. He did not meant to do it. It was not his intention. It was not supposed to end like this. It was not..._

_"You are a murderer..."_

_Sweet, sickening whisper got into his ear. The little boy looked around him to find the source of the voice. With no luck, he failed to see anyone around him. When he turned back to the ground, there was no longer the body._

_Huh? Where did it go?_

_Without any warning, a pair of hand suddenly strangled him and pinned him to the ground. A headless man with blood flowing from his neck kept pushing the air out from the little boy's neck. The young boy struggled to fight back. He took the blade not far from him and quickly stabbed that body again. It fell to the ground and become lifeless again._

_What have I done?..._

_"You are a bad guy, just like me..."_

_The same voice appeared again. When he looked to the front, someone with a pair of red eyes gazed to him with an ugly smirk. Following his instinct, the little boy threw his blade to that person in hoping that it would hurt them the very least._

_But it did not. Instead, the blade fell down to the ground and that person lost into thin air. Confusion wavered in that little boy's head. There was no way they could...!_

_The next thing he knew, the red-eyed person appeared and pierced their hand straight to that little boy's chest. He coughed and blood spluttered out from his throat. He saw his attacker's face and their grin had become wider. Evil glint also sparkled inside their red eyes._

_"You belong to me now, Hide..."_

***

"NO!!!"

The young vampire shouted abruptly after he woke up from his slumber. He panted for his breath and tried his best to calm down. After a few minutes, he gradually breath properly and leaned toward the headboard. His body was sweating profusely even if it was cold that time.

"A dream... just a bad dream..." he told to himself. A sharp pain from his left chest struck him suddenly. He groaned hurtly as he clutched the source of his pain. The physical scar on his left chest was nothing to him, but the mental scar was what hurt him most.

Hide got up from his bed and slowly peaked out to the window. It was dusk right now. The orange sunset became the background of Tokyo city. People are talking and walking at the pavement nearby the hotel he stayed in right now.

It must be a bless to be normal, huh...

**Hide!**

Crap, his master was making mental link to him. He need to reply back!

**What do you want, old man?**

**Thank goodness that you are still alive!**

**As if I'm going to die that early**

**I'm guessing that you haven't found them yet**

Hide sighed heavily. His master was a very perspective vampire. He always know stuff about people even just from a glimpse or a whisper. He was annoyed with his need to protect Hide, but it was quite nice to know somebody care for him.

**Well, looking for them is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Nearly impossible, but I'm not going to give up**

**I was about to ask you to come back from this ridiculous mission of yours**

**Not going to happen, sire!**

**You're very adamant about this**

**You of all people know why I'm doing this**

**It is not your fault, Hide**

Hide went quiet after hearing that. His master always said to him that it was not his fault. Things just... happened in their life. It was inevitable for him anyways since horrible stuff tend to happen with their kinds anyway. He should just accepted it.

Except, he could not do that.

Part of it was his fault anyway no matter what his master said. So he need to do something that he believe was right just to atone for himself. He could not be that ignorant fool anymore.

**I'm sorry master...**

**Don't be like that to me, Hide. You've changed and that's enough for me**

**I am forever indebted with you**

**Child, you owe me nothing**

**I am not a child!**

**Foolish lad, you always look like a child to me**

**Look, I've gotta go now** without waiting any reply, Hide cut off his mental link with his master and opened his eyes. He rubbed his temple for a few times after that conversation. It could be a little tiring when forming a mental link with someone far away from them.

The night was coming, so he better planned something right now.

***

Coffee place was crossed out from his list. Come to think of it, that would be very predictable of them. And also, it would be boring. So he need to think something out of the blue.

But if he were them, what would he do...?

"Ugh, this is a pain in the neck!" Hide grumbled to himself. Right now, he was standing on top of Tokyo Tower in the middle of midnight. He scanned the whole city with his eyes and still got nothing. They were getting better in hiding now. Well, that was expected from them.

After a fruitless search from the tower, Hide got down from there and safely landed on the ground. After stretching his body, he strolled around aimlessly in hope of founding some clue or something.

When he walked past an abandoned church, he quickly halted and turned around to the building. He felt a weird yet familiar sense of energy coming from there. Curiously, he spun around and went to the abandoned church.

Nothing really interesting around here. Just an almost ruined church with broken window glass. The wall had been stained with grafitti and the grass was not even trimmed at all.

But where is this energy come from?

"Well, well, well.... look what we got here?"

A group of hooded people came out from the forest nearby. Each one of them had different weapon in their hand. Even with their hood, it still did not hide their smirk when they found Hide at this place.

Oh, so that's where the energy come from, Hide thought to himself when he looked to their weapon.

"Boss told us that he missed you dearly, Magician," the one with chain in their hand stated it.

"They must be happy if we bring your pretty face to them," the one who was spinning their daggers in their hand chuckled. 

"Why don't we made our boss happy now?" the sword-wielder pointed their weapon toward Hide.

"Tell your 'boss' that I don't give a shit about their happiness" Hide shouted and started to taunt them. When he got them really pissed off with his scornful remark, the hooded men started their attack to the blonde vampire.

Hide grinned like a Cheshire Cat when they came forward to him. Oh, newbie always hot-headed and quite reckless one too. Still, even if they were clearly first time meeting him, he needed to be careful at here. Those weapon that they were using were not just any ordinary weapon. They had powerful incantation all over it. If they know how to use it properly, Hide is probably as good as dead.

The vampire muttered quick spells under his breath . Weird tattoo started to appear all over his skin and a dull orange aura layered around his body. Young and inexperienced vampire will unable to see his aura just like those three. Only the strong and powerful one could do this.

Now, it is time for him to show them a true magic!

As the dagger was tossed toward to him, Hide used his hand to change their flow immediately. He knew it would be pointless for him to dodge and run away as this weapon would follow him everywhere he go.

Now, instead of Hide, the daggers altered around and changed their direction to the thrower. Without any chance to escape, the weapon went straight to his thighs. The poison from the daggers made him unable to move anymore.

The steel chain swayed around like a living snake and almost got Hide off guard. Fortunately, Hide grabbed at the end of chain and pulled the owner toward him with it. The owner lose their stability and dragged forward to Hide.

Hide smirked when the user turned shock as they faced with each other really closely. Quickly, the blondie whirled the steel chain around his attacker. When he was completely immobile, Hide thrusted the pointy end of the steel chain to the back of his neck. That made him unable to talk right now.

Now, for the last one.

Hide closed his eyes and imagined his sword in his hand now. When it had been materialized in reality, Hide withstand the sudden attack from his enemy. He charged forward and pushed the hooded man a bit further from him.

The hooded man roared in rage as he darted to Hide. The blondie signalled him to get closer with his index finger while he prepared his stance. It took only a glance for him to predict the next move of his assailant.

Without further ado, Hide used his full strength to his weapon and clashed against his enemy's sword. The sword slipped away from his grip and left that man unarmed. Before he get back his sword, Hide quickly hit their head with the pommel. Thatbwas enough to render him unconscious.

This battle was lasted for less than a minute.

"People don't call me Magician for nothing," Hide remarked. The sword in his hand puffed into thin air just like his mind wanted. He observed those rascals that just lost in their battle. He noticed that one of them, the one with the dagger, still awake.

Hide motioned closer to him and knelt next to him. The young vampire was clearly fumed with him but unable to say something die to the poison that seeped into his system. He could not even move his finger at all at this moment.

"Look kiddo, I ain't gonna kill you and your friends here. But I wanted to say thank you for coming to me. At least, I know that the people that I'm looking was really here," Hide smiled widely. He ignored the hateful expression on his face. Hide got that a lot.

The blonde vampire hovered his hand over his attacker's face and murmured another spell. The hooded man felt his eyes was getting heavy and slowly fell to his sleep. When his eyes was closed, Hide got up and finally leave this place. He believed that they will wake up around a few hours later so there was nothing to worry about.

Hide tried to hold his giddiness. He knew he should be super worry right now since this clearly shown that his life is in danger. But how could he not be happy to know that his target was really here. They really good in hiding. So when they sent their lackeys, that meant they **wanted** to be found. Which also meant that his next search will not be that difficult.

_Killing for fun is not right, Hide._

The sudden whisper that entered into his mind made Hide became gloomy. Those words were the reason why Hide chose to not kill those hooded vampires that fought with him. It will not be a problem for him to end their life, but he need to restrain himself.

He cannot be the monster that he used to be.

_But what will I do when I meet them?_

**_SNAP!_ **

"Who's there?!" Hide shouted when he heard a twig had been stepped on. He gazed around and saw nobody was there. However, he smelt someone was not far from him. Clearly, someone was hiding from his sight.

Hide shrugged off and ignored it. There was no point for him to concern about that person anyway. If they saw what happen at the church, let them be. No one would trust them anyway. Beside, that fight happened to fast that nobody could catch it away anyway. So he just walked straight to his path and went back to the hotel.

"You're quite something else, huh," Kaneki got out from his hiding place and watched Hide getting away from him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm so sorry about the late update. The exam was beginning to take a toll on me and classes started to become busier. Not to mention I got a writer block for this one. I don't even have much time left for final.  
> To be honest, I didn't plan to make this story like this before. I didn't think carefully about the plot and I realized the original story line doesn't fit for this plot. So I had to change all over and rethink the suitable plot for this one.  
> I finally fix them all and made a rough draft for them. I just hoped my story won't ended up weird.

Kaneki always thought that ghouls were stronger than any living creature. Turns out, there were another creature that lived in the world beside human and ghouls. And those kinds seems to be superior than both of them.

Why? It was because of Hide.

Kaneki had been wondering about Hide ever since their first fight. That young man's ability was something that possessed by no ghouls or human. Hide had a great physical endurance than him. He predicted that not even a Kakuja or CCG Shinigami combination power could defeat this man. His speed and strength were not something for him to ignore it.

His charismatic aura was also weird. Hide had been spending some of his time in Anteiku. Whenever he was there, there would always people or ghouls that swarmed around him like lost puppies. Even Touka was skittish when he come here. She acted like a gentle maiden only when Hide was at Anteiku.

Yes, Hide was in fact a good-looking guy with a great personality from his observation. But it still felt odd to see every living being attracted to him like moth around the flames in just a moment. That guy was some sort of a magnet or something. It was like, he put himself with a charn that made people needed his attention. It was kinda creepy.

Kaneki compared Hide's scent with rotten corpse out of curiosity. Surprisingly, their fragrance had a bit of resemblance. Only, the corpse's scent are spikier than Hide. Hide's smell was laced between death and life. He was not as awful as a corpse, but not as delicious as human. It was kinda balanced in a way.

He noticed that Hide always show up during nights only. That guy was like a nocturnal animal, active when sun goes down. Kaneki never saw him around during morning or evening. He was not having an albino or something, so why avoid the sunlight?

One midnight, he saw Hide stood up on Tokyo Tower and jumped down from that building as if it was nothing. He was really baffled to see Hide unscathed. Seriously, how strong is this guy? Can he even die with that ridiculous skill?

He tailed Hide from behind secretly and stopped when Hide went to an abandoned church. Kaneki saw three hooded men came out of nowhere and talked to Hide. Apparently, this guy had some sort of nickname as 'Magician' and was wanted by their boss. Hide shit-talk to them before weird tattoo formed all over his skin and face.

Kaneki tried to see their fight, but it happened too fast and short. In less than a minute, the three of them laid down on the grass while Hide still stood up without a scratch. He wanted to hear Hide's conversation with one of them, but his voice was too soft. Then, Hide just left them like nothing happened.

Weird tattoo, super strength, incredibly fast, high physical endurance, active at night, pale skin as snow, hypnotizing...

Was there something more about Hide? If he was neither ghouls nor human, then what was he? How can his existence went unknown to their eyes and why?

With the help of internet and other sources, Kaneki worked himself out to search for something that has could explain about this blondie. He even attempted to seek for more information or record about Hide. Sadly, he found almost nothing. It was like, Hide came out of nowhere.

He was curious about those hooded men that Hide fought before. What did he do that made someone wanted him? Why did they said about their 'boss' would be happy if they got Hide? Are they someone that also wanted to kill Hide too?

Well, he would not be mind about Hide's safety. But this is Tokyo. This is his place. He would not let anyone take the honour of taking Hide's life from his body. No matter how many enemies that Hide had, Kaneki will not let any of them lay a finger of him. He will not let anyone to get into his way.

He wanted to be the one that has the pleasure of seeing Hide's eyes getting dimmer under his hand.

***

"Yo, Kaneki!"

"Go fuck yourself"

"I rather have you to do that for me~"

It was really hard for Kaneki from coming to Anteiku nowadays. Hide had been coming around here for a few times at night and somehow, he gained a lot of customer to come here. Whether he like it or not, Hide was the favourite customer in this cafe. Heck, a lot of people sit here because of him too. Hide was indirectly became the main attraction in this place. The manager was pleased to see a lot of people sat here and enjoyed our coffee. Even Touka took a liking of him.

So kicking Hide out was certainly not an option.

Kaneki glared daggers to the blondie who still grinning like a Cheshire Cat. This guy was sitting next to the counter while disturbing him. People might not believe him if he told other what Hide capable of. He looks like a radiant ball of sunshine, but he could easily kill you with a click of his finger.

Well, kill was a bit exaggerating. He still has not seen Hide does that yet.

"Why don't you get a stick and shove it up your ass?" Kaneki retorted without paying any attention to Hide.

"Is that an invitation?" Hide cocked his eyebrow.

"Can you stop harrasing me right now? I'm trying to work here" Kaneki sighed and rubbed his temple. If only Touka was here, she could served him like usual. Unfortunately, she was busy with her exam at this moment. The manager believed she need more time to study for that.

"But rabbit dies of loneliness, Kaneki!" Hide whined like a child.

"You're certainly not a rabbit, idiot"

"Then, what am I?"

The male ghoul stopped whatever he was doing. From Hide's tone, he could tell that this young man was mocking him. He was the only one that knew Hide was not like any of them, yet still have no idea what the bloody hell is he.

"Do whatever you want, my dear. But I want to warn you that everything come with a cost," Hide paused for a while "Might as well for you to give up on killing me,"

With a smirk on his face, Kaneki placed his hand onto Hide's cheek and whispered "Hush, darling. I let you know that I will not let anything to get into my way,"

"We'll see about that," the blondie amused. Hide's grin turned wider as Kaneki stared to him with murderous intention. He took Kaneki's hand and purposely kissed them again. The blonde-haired man was amused to see the other one turned disgust after receiving that attention.

Not long after that, Hide got up from his chair and sat at the corner of the cafe. There, he hang out with other customer and chattered with them. A group of people seemed to be really enjoying to be in Hide's company. Even some customer got imto their circle just to be with him. That guy was seriously a magnet!

Kaneki gazed to those lots before he turned back his attention to his work. He needed to finish his job before he closed the cafe. If he was lucky enough, he could try to follow Hide again when he is out again in this midnight.

What kind of creature is he, he wondered?...

***

"Ghouls like you are not suppose to exist!"

Ah, this shit again.

Meeting with CCG officers out of the blue was some sort of normal routine in his life. He did not encounter them every night, but it was not really surprising for him anymore. Just a human in white coat attacking him with quinquie. Something that he could handle, a piece of cake!

Normally Kaneki would take his sweet time playing with his prey before he eat them. It was satisfying to see the horror look on their face when they realized their life was finally hit the end. Human's fear spiked the scent that it made them much more delicious to fill his belly.

But this was not one of that night. Right now, he had other plan to do. However, this annoying bastard decided to appear and attempted to kill him alone. Have he nkt heard about safety in number? Kaneki could not pick whether this officer was brave or an idiot for doing this action alone without any help. Must be a hot-blooded newbie, huh.

With a mask on his face, Kaneki used his rinkaku to do the job. The officer tried their best to defend themselves with their weapon. Kaneki was a bit amused, this person was not so bad. Their desperation to survive and determination to kill him was entertaining. But how long can they hold it?

"Just give up, you can't win against me," Kaneki adviced the CCG officer. Unlike everyday, he was not in the mood of killing people. If this person just heed his word, they could live longer.

"If you think that I will--"

Without any warning, someone came out of nowhere, pierced their hand straight to the human's chest and sucked their blood directly from their neck.

Well, this was unexpected.

The blood-sucking monster took no notice of Kaneki's presence and focused more to the hot blood that flowed inside their throat. The human was completely drained by a creature that they do not know at all. When he was done, the monster grabbed the human's heart away from their chest and swallowed them whole. Ah, it felt so heavenly when their thirst had finally been quenched. He even licked some blood on his hand after he was finished with his 'meal'. The dead body just fell down to the ground after that.

Kaneki had seen a lot of horrible stuff, but he did not anticipated to see this view. He paused and watched how this creatures ended this human's life in front of him. Kaneki smelt something weird from this creature, he knew this scent from someone else...

"I wonder..." the blood-sucking man suddenly voiced out "...how do ghoul taste like? I never had one before..."

Now that was a cue for Kaneki to know this person was dangerous and he need to get the fuck out of here. Only, he did not do that. In fact, being an idiot (yes, he knew he is one), he decided to afflict this unknown person. It was not everyday for him to fight someone that was neither human nor ghoul.

The stranger sprang out from their position and contend against Kaneki. The ghoul prepared his stance and used his kagune to attack him. Every rinkaku kept hurling around the area to hit the target.

Alas, just like the time he fought with Hide, this one managed to avoid every of them. Even worse, this man clamped his sharp claw to the red kagune and weakened them by force. The rinkaku went limp and Kaneki felt a very agonizing pain to his body as if every sharp prick were all over his body. He groaned in pain and had to insert back his rinkaku to his body.

Since his plan A did not work, that hinted he need to use plan B.

"Without your kagune, I wonder how can you defeat me now?" the other party started to mock. He was pretty sure this male ghoul was completely defenceless without their biological weapon.

"Who said I need kagune to fight you?!" Kaneki smirked widely. He signaled his enemy to get closer and started the first move. This way, he could observe and plan his next move.

The tattoed man went forward, accepting the ghoul's challenge. He moved a little bit fast that when Kaneki took just a step to his left, he did not brake his speed down and hit the concrete wall behind Kaneki previously. A very loud 'thud' formed came from that man.

"Lucky that you are not human, or else that would be hurt badly," Kaneki had a restrained grin over his face. He should not laughed at his enemy's bad out coming. Not when his life was at stake now. But damn, it just hilarious to him!

The blood-sucker turned his body and rubbed his forehead. Glaring with mad glint toward Kaneki, he vowed to make this ghoul know his position at this instant. He needed a special 'lesson' for that rude attitude.

"You're right: I am lucky that I am not human,"

In just a flash, that man vanished from Kaneki's sight. The black-haired ghoul cautious and started to look around for his presence. He used all of his instinct and five sense to detect him, but it was difficult!

All of sudden, this man emerged in front Kaneki. The ghoul did not have enough time to fight back in a very short time. In no time flat, Kaneki was pinned down to the ground by his assailant. The blood-sucker gripped both of Kaneki's hand tightly and straddled his hip. This gave no chance for Kaneki to escape from him. Kaneki struggled to get up but he was too heavy for the ghoul.

"But I'm also lucky that I'm not a ghoul," he simpered. Seeing the young, black-haired man being vulnerable underneath him made him more smug and excited. Without wasting any time, he started to move his head directly to Kaneki's neck. He was curious to know how would a ghoul's blood taste for his throat.

Kaneki closed his eyes, not wanting to see what would happen next. He could warm, hot breath that fanning next to his neck. Goddamit, he rather die than being played by this weird pervert!

He waited for something to happen, but his attacker did not do anything at all. When he opened back his eyes, Kaneki gasped to see his current condition.

The blood-sucker's belly had been stabbed and went through by a sword. Red blood trickled down from his wound and fell to Kaneki's shirt. The sword-wielder who stood behind them was staring to his victim with cold eyes. He slowly twisted his sword to around the belly, earning some painful grunt before he pulled it back.

It was Hide who did that to him.

The man that had hold Kaneki finally loosened his grip and let him go. He slowly got up and covered the hole on his belly with his hand. Even with that pain, he still managed to sneer to the person that did that to him. To be honest, it felt like being bitten by an ant. It did not hurt too much.

"So it is true, that the Magician had become merciful lately," he scoffed.

"Just fuck off before I do worse to you," Hide demanded in low and dark voice. The tattoo on his face started to get darker. He clenched his fist while pointing the tip of the sword straight to this wounded man.

The tattoed man observed the situation and nodded " _Au revoir_ ~". He started to jump really high from the ground and speed away from another roof to another one. Finally, it was only Hide and Kaneki that left on that scene. The blonde-haired man closed his eyes and the weapon was gone into thin air.

"Are you okay, Kaneki?" Hide turned around and knelt next to Kaneki. He checked the ghoul's body just in case if he got injured badly.

"I'm... fine," Kaneki assured him. Besides from the confusion and shock he received, he was not injured at this moment. He noticed that the tattoo on Hide's face gradually faded before there was nothing left on there. Now that just plain weird.

"Good. That's... good," Hide sighed in relief. He seemed to be genuinely glad to know that Kaneki was not hurt. Kaneki found that a bit odd, yet there was something warm inside him to see Hide care for him in a way.

"What was that?" Kaneki asked as soon as he stood up from his position. He dusted away the dirt on his shirt and stretched his body. Looking back to Hide's expression, he saw hesitant all over it. The blondie opened his mouth, but then did not say anything to explain the situation.

"You'll find out when the right time has come," was what Hide's reply. Without waiting for Kaneki, Hide left the ghoul behind and disappear again.

"So much for being left in the dark," Kaneki huffed. Guess it was time for him to go back home now.

***

"Is there any book that could tell me about him?!" Kaneki grumbled in low voice.

Right now, the young ghoul was spending a night in a library. After what happened a few nights before, his curiosity about Hide increased rapidly. It was really irritating to know nothing about that mysterious blondie. What was that all about anyway?

Kaneki moved from one shelf to another, but he could not found any book that could give him the answer. He tried to use internet, but he nothing from it. So he had to do the old-fashioned way. Who knows, maybe there's a record or a book about him. Although he was a bit doubtful of that, but no harms on trying for that.

Just when he was about to quit, a very dusty and brown-ish book fell on top of his head. Kaneki groaned in pain and cursed mentally to that book. He picked it up and blew the dust that concealed the cover of the book. The title of the book was unreadable since the text had become a little bit faded. This clearly shown that this book was really old.

Kaneki shrugged his shoulder, he could try his luck with this one. Tons of book had been red and none of them provided the answer that he needed. What was the difference is this one ended up the same?

The ghoul opened the book and skimmed the whole content. Everything was text until he saw a drawing of a young man. Even if the art was in black and white, it was still clear to him and Kaneki felt like he knew this person from somewhere else. He red the name under the art and lost his grip to that book. The book fell down to the ground due to Kaneki's surprise of what he had seen.

_There's no way... but that could explain... but they're not real..._

Are they?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I had class and stuff and exam to think of. I'm sorry for the cliffhanger (?) too..

Caring is not an advantage.

He learnt that in a hard way.

He should not care anymore. It was caring that made him fell into pit of depression. He had promised to himself that he would not do that a again. Enough is enough.

Alas, he was still an fool. He cared again. He started to get attached with someone else. He broke his own promise just for the sake of that person.

He afraid that he will repeat the same mistake again.

Hide was sitting on one the swing. In the middle of night, the vampire was by himself at a park. He was deep in his own mind, thinking about his current situation.

He just saved a ghoul. Not just a ghoul, but one if the wanted by the CCG. A black-haired ghoul who had been as a sadistic and dangerous one. The one that treat human no more than just food. He knew about it since the start.

Kaneki Ken.

This guy had been a problem to Hide now. Before, he was no more than a mere entertainment to Hide. He really likes his company even if the other one hate him to death. His eccentric amused Hide a lot. It had been a long since he laughed or smiled, but Kaneki managed to make him do that.

When Kaneki was attacked by one of his kind, Hide felt like he wanted to rip off that vampire's neck. If not because of his self-control, that vampire might be no longer breathing. He was surprised that up until now, someone still recognized him.

He must had been a mess in his past.

Seeing Kaneki was safe and sound, Hide felt a wave of relief hit him. He knew that Kaneki was string enough to defend himself, but he cannot helped but to protect him from the danger. At that moment, Hide realized he cared deeply for this one.

He fucked up. Again.

Upon knowing that, Hide quickly left Kaneki behind by himself. He could not faced him and showed to that ghoul about his affection toward him. He should not do this. If someone know about this, the two of then would be in great disadvantage.

Hide chuckled weakly. His main goal was to track down his target and moved on. Now, he was stuck with his stupid feeling. Irony must be took a liking of him.

He lifted up his head and stared to the night sky. Thousand of glimmering stars we're all over it. The cold breeze caressed his cheek softly. He closed his eyes, reminisced back his past.

_Feeling doesn't make you weak..._

'But it doesn't make me strong...'

***

There was no need for him to go to Anteiku. He was pretty sure that Kaneki would bombard him with questions or stuff that could make Hide felt awkward with him. Right now, Hide did not want to face with any of these scenarios.

Recently, he felt like his attempt was getting fruitless. Up until now, he still did not found the person he was seeking for. It was supposed to take less than a week for him to achieve his goal. But his expectation was wrong. As time goes by, he started to get frustrated.

Is this a waste of time? Was his master right? 

Hide was pretty much zoned out during his walk. He did not paid any attention to his surrounding. He let his instinct to be his guide at this moment. Without any lead, he had no idea how to find them.

Maybe he just need to wait. After all, they did sent their lackey to get Hide before. If they really wanted Hide to come, they would show themselves sooner or later. He just hoped thing would be done before the next full moon. Time was the essence at thus moment.

**WHOOSH!**

Turning around immediately, Hide grabbed the object that almost got him. In his hand, it was a wooden arrow with a silver pointy end. There was a colourless liquid that covered at the tip of it. Just from the look, he knew that this was a poison that made specially for vampire. One drop and you are as good as dead.

"Even if you lay low for a while, you still sharp as ever," a soft voice hit his ear nor far from him. A person in dark clothes and mask appeared out of nowhere with a crossbow in their hand. A quiver full of arrow was slung behind their back. Their steel and hard gaze was focused to Hide only.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Cortwright's family," Hide smirked, knowing the identity of his attacker. Even if they were wrapped up all black, it was not hard to forget the glint in their eyes. Full of rage and hate toward the creature of the night.

Sensing there was no use of the mask, they pulled it off and revealed their face. A woman with long and dark hair that was tied up into a bun. Olive skin on her face with freckles on her nose. She had a long scar that started from her left eyebrow to her left cheek. Even with the scar, Hide considered her as beautiful -- if he minus the fact that she tried to kill Hide before.

"Just called me Isabella, Magician. After all, my family have known you for a very long time..." Isabella playfully smirked. She put her crossbow at her back and folded her arm. Dealing with Hide was much more different than any other vampires that she killed before. This one had been hunted by her family for more than a century. 

The Cortwright Family. They were one of the well-known and powerful family that consist of a group of dangerous monster hunters. They were widely respected by every hunters in this world. Their legacy had been successful in this line of work. A lot of monster had been slaughtered by them. Even the strongest and experienced one were defeated in the fight. With their reputation, every monster did their best to avoid this family. Meeting with them was equivalent with meeting the Reaper.

Funnily enough, Hide defied all the odd. In fact, he was the only monster (or vampire) that failed to be killed by them. His trick and wit always managed to fool this family and other hunters. For many decades, their generation had hunted Hide because of his malicious act in the past. Sadly, Hide always find their weakness first and killed those who got into his way.

It was not hard to recognize the Cortwright for Hide. He had made himself famous among vampires and hunters by being impossible to kill. The only people who still refused to accept that fact was this family. They really persistent and ambitious to take his life.

"Very well Isabella" Hide paused, face becoming more grim "do you wish to end up like your ancestor? I could let you go with no harm if you choose to stop hunting me," 

"You think I will accept that offer?!" Isabella spat "You killed my family! You killed all those innocent people!"

Sharp pain stung into Hide's chest. She was right. Hide was no different than any other killer in his past. There was no need to sugarcoat that fact. But he did not do that anymore.

It had been more than five decades since Hide last kill. He made a promise that he will not repeat that again. He really regretted his action and the were times Hide wanted to fix up his mistake.

What's dead stays dead.

"I know that I was no more than a monster before. I am not denying that fact. However, I assure you that I am not that anymore. I begged you, Isabella. Please let me go," Hide took a deep breath. If he die now, then how can he finished his personal task?

Isabella chuckled lightly "Why don't you try your... magic trick first?"

Hide was confused at first. When he looked to his hand that grabbed the arrow, he saw a seal mark that plastered on his palm. He was speechless when he realized his magic abilities had been sealed. The vampire was unable to use his abilities at this moment.

"I am not repeating the same mistake that my ancestors made. I know that you always use your magic power in your fight. It took times for me to draw that seal on that arrow. Although, I was a bit disappointed that it didn't went straight to your heart," Isabella pulled out her blade from her jacket. In a flash, she leapt forward and began her assault.

She was about to stab him when Hide suddenly gone from her sight. Her face turned bewildered and she started to look around the place. Panic surged inside her, what was her mistake?

Unexpectedly, her feet was no longer touching the ground. A strong hand was wrapping around her neck and lifted her up. Her grips was loosen and her weapon fell down to the ground. She choked for her breath as the hand started to strangle her slowly.

"You should remember that even without my 'talent', I'm still more dangerous and powerful than most vampire. Probably much more worse than any monster," Hide spoke in dreadful manner. His eyes was cold as he stared to the huntress's sickening face. With a little bit of force, he could just end her life like her previous family member. Everyone that got into his way must be--

_Promise me, Hide..._

Abruptly, Hide let go of her and panted for his breath. He placed both of his hand to his hand, face went full of terror and regret. How can he almost break his word again? He made a promise, he cannot just forget it that easily. He almost become a monster!

Without him noticing, Isabella grabbed back her weapon and pushed Hide off to the ground. She straddled between his hip and waste no time to stab Hide's chest. The vampire screamed in agony, the pain was too much for him to endure. His eyes scrunched tightly and it was getting harder for him to breathe. The poison started to affect his body.

"Now, be a good boy so I could just end up your---"

Before the huntress finished her word, something pushed her off from Hide without any warning. Her head hit the closest wall and she went unconscious in no time flat. She laid on the cold ground and failed to get her job done.

Before Hide closed his eyes, he saw another figure with a clown mask knelt next to him.

***

Hide blinked his eyes a few times before he opened them properly. Just from the scent, Hide noticed that he was in an unfamiliar place. He tried to remember how did he got here, but the last thing that came into his mind was an unconscious Isabella.

"You should take it easy, considering you just got poisoned by a crazy lady,"

Hide was almost startled when he heard a voice not far from him. He sat up from his position and saw Kaneki was sitting at the edge of the bed. An unreadable expression was showed up on his face.

"How..."

"It's a long story, but I will explain later if you drink this," Kaneki gave him an opaque water bottle. Feeling thirsty, Hide just took the bottle and gulped down as much as he could.

It taste so sweet and heavenly--

Wait.

Doubt started to creep inside his mind. He uncovered the lid and checked the content of the bottle. It was ruby red liquid and smell delicious. The liquid was as red as...

...blood.

"So is this true? That you are..." Kaneki did not ended up his word. He let his sentence hanging just like that. It was still unbelievable for this to be real. Human cannot drink blood. Only non-human creatures that could consumed this.

"Yes. Yes, I am a vampire," Hide nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting from now, I will be on total hiatus. I have exam this Nov. The exam will start less than a month and finish at the end of Nov.  
> Wish me luck!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm fucking done with everything. Everything that happen in my life, I just done give a damn anymore. I have no clue what to do after I done with my final. I really want to work out with this story! I have the plot, the idea! But, my lack of motivation to do anything is getting worse, even when I want to do something I llove and believe I'm good at: writing.  
> I wish I have the will to fix this up, but honestly? I just don't want to care anymore.  
> I'm really sorry if this chapter. I think this is like, a filler episode? But horrible.
> 
> I'm really sorry.

"That's it?"

"That's what?"

"That's all you can say to me?"

"Well, what did you expect?"

To be honest, Kaneki expected that Hide might denied the truth or something since, you know, he was vampire. Certainly there must be a reason why Hide hide his status just like other ghouls hide their true nature from other creature. Kaneki thought he might needed to force the truth out from his throat as well.

Or maybe he expected that Hide could be extravagant a bit about his identity. Maybe it just his idea or something, but he thought vampire was an arrogant creature that liked to think that were better than anything. Maybe Hide might give him a long and unnecessary explanation about his vampirism.

He did not expected Hide to answer his question this simple. Like it was nothing. 

"By the way, how did you even know that I'm a vampire? Everyone think that we're just a myth," Hide questioned Kaneki back. If eyes could kill, then Kaneki might be dead from intense stare that he received from this blondie. Clearly, he was not pleased with this situation.

Without a word, the black-haired ghoul pulled out a brownish and ancient book out from drawer. It was a quite surprising that the book still kept in intact despite the fact that it was already a few hundreds years old (he guessed so). He blew the dust away and coughed a little, then he handed the book to the vampire.

Hide had a funny look when he received the book, but eventually accepted it and skimmed some of the pages inside it. When he stopped at one particular page, he stared to it for a few minutes. Closing the book after that, Hide sighed in a deep breath before break into a small chuckle.

"I honestly didn't expected that the writer managed to finish this. Last time I remembered, I convinced a mob of angry people that I'm innocent and burned up this writer alive," Hide shrugged off his shoulder as if it was nothing. He gave back the book to Kaneki and added "Althought, I've gotta to tell you, most of the info here are wrong,". 

"Then what is right?" Kaneki put back the book into one of the drawer. Knowing what Hide had done to the writer made him a little bit surprised (liar!). To know that Hide was capable to manipulate people to do something like that...

But then, Kaneki had saw how Hide interacted with some of the Anteiku's customers. His voice and his charismatic aura made a lot of people drawn to him and with the innocent look on his face, it just hard to think Hide as bad guy. People really should think back about the phrase 'Don't judge a book by it's cover,'.

There's something about him so... irresistible.

"Well sir, you are quite lucky tonight because I'm opening Q & A session special for you only. Ask me anything and I'll answer it honestly," the vampire smiled back to the ghoul while crossing his arm. Kaneki could sense that he was being sarcastic, but he ignored it anyway.

"Can I even trust you?" Kaneki scoffed.

Hide nodded earnestly. His expression seemed to be sincere and real, if Hide was a good actor then he made a very good job to hide his real facade.

Kaneki took a heavy breath. He was indeed curious about Hide. It was not everyday for someone to encounter a vampire. Even if he did, he could not tell since no one would want to tell their true identity.

"Come on kid, we don't have all night," the vampire joked. Which, he received a sharp glare from the rinkaku user.

"Is there any rumour or anything in book that are right about you guys?"

Hide immediately groaned upon the first question. He even rubbed his temple for a few times. There was an annoyed look plastered on his face.

"I tell you, almost everything what people think about vampire are so bloody wrong! Like, the fact that we are weak with cross and garlic? How the hell can somebody with that stuff anyway? That garlic only made our breath stink! The cross? Dude, not all of us are Christian anyway. I don't even understand where did people get that idea anyways! I still remember that one priest who tried to kill with his cross. Poor dude, seeing the truth revealed in front of his eyes before he got his blood sucked by me. I still don't see the logic behind it, tho. Add holy water! It have no effect upon us! You can pour a bucket of holy water on me and I assure you, I just become wet from it but not dead.

Vampire cannot cast shadow? What an utter bullshit! Its not like the sunlight can go through us like we are transparent stuff. We have body, head and even a pair of legs! Although, it was quite true that we cannot the face the sun directly. If we exposed to it more than half an hour, we started to get burn mark and our skin look roasted. Next thing you know, you have a roasted vampire on the road. The sun was too hot for us to handle, thus why we prefer to do our stuff at night.

Vampires cannot take pictures and have no reflection? Then look at that mirror! Do you see me, Kaneki?! Do you?! If you say not, I'll smack your head so hard you might forget your name too. You can see my face next to your face and my hand on your black hair here. Like I said before, we're not transparent.

Vampires cannot turn into bat or fog. Unless you have a very powerful skill in magic, which is rare, no vampires can perform that trick. They just saw that one guy who become bat to escape from the angry mob and Bam! Rumours said vampire can turn into a bat. Humans are so funny.

Vampires likes to sleep in coffin? Well, do you know how hard it is to get a comfy bed of your own back in the day? It was stinky and full of bugs, but at least no one would dare to open the casket and disturb the dead. We get a peaceful sleep far away in the cemetery. But if we got chance, we took the bed from human."

"You take human's bed?" Kaneki wanted to chortle, but Hide kept rambling.

"Vampires can only be killed with a stake through our heart? Everyone will literally die with that way if you're strong and not chicken out when you drive that stake through someone's heart. You can even do the same thing with the ghoul if the stake are made from kagune too. Don't give me that look, you know that I'm right here.

And the one that I hate most that I wanted to questioning human's mind? They said vampires are living dead! That we are not part of living being! How can you be alive and dead at the same time anyway? Thats contradict with each other! We're hella old, yes, but we're not dead yet just because we surpass the 'human's expiration age'. We're not like zombies! Zombies not even exist in this life!

As Hide ranted more about the misconceptions of vampires, Kaneki cannot helped but to feel amused with this. The vampires looks so done and his voice even sounded annoyed with people's idea about his kinds. He even made his hand gestures as he told every rumours that were wrong about vampires.

"Oi, are you even listening to me?" Hide stopped his rant when he realized he was the only one who was talking and Kaneki did not even made a voice. He started to wonder if he was talking to a log here.

Kaneki did not reply back anything. He just stared to Hide with an unreadable look. It only took a click from Hide's finger to get his attention back.

"Sorry, what?" Kaneki appeared to be flabbergasted. His eyes seemed to be unfocused with the whole conversation.

"You're not even listening, right?" Hide felt a little bit offended. Here he thought at least Kaneki would not be that rude.

"You're ranting too much," the black-haired ghoul said it with deadpanned look "It's kinda cute, actually,".

That made Hide blushed in no time flat. He covered his tomato-faced with his hand and started to avoid Kaneki's stare. Somehow, that made his heart beat a little bit faster than usual. Hide never the one who received compliment like that from someone else. Especially not from a guy.

That... caught him off guard.

"Why are you blushing here? Hold on, are you embarrassed now?" Kaneki wanted to hold his giggle, but he failed and broke it off when Hide glared straight to his face but with blush on his face.

Kaneki was supposed to hate him, but this vampire really made him want to laugh until he got tears on his eyes.

"Just shut up!" Hide squeaked, which only made Kaneki's laugh more further. Heck, he even fell from his stool and Hide had to get him up from the ground.

"You're done?" the vampire gritted his teeth when the ghoul wiped off his tears. That bastard was lucky that Hide choose to not suck his blood the moment Kaneki laughed like that. He was not here to be a clown for this guy.

After Kaneki was done with it, a moment of silence hung between them. It started to feel awkward when none of them said anything back.

"So..."

"So?" Hide interrupted Kaneki's word.

"What are you doing now, exactly?" Kaneki asked Hide's intention now. He still wondered what was Hide doing here in Tokyo. Judging from a few things that he saw what happened to Hide, he figured it would not be something simple. He cannot helped but to feel curious about it.

"I'm hunting someone. And since some'one' realized that you're connected with me, it appears that I need to protect your poor ass from any trouble as well," Hide sighed "Although, I shouldn't worry much. You're not going to break easily like human. It's a good thing that you're a ghoul,".

It was really a long night for both of them, as Hide started to explain his whole modus operandi in Tokyo and why Kaneki really need to be cautious from now on. One wrong step, he might get his blood suck out by another creature.

After all, his opponent this time were neither human nor ghoul; it was vampire.

***

"My dear Hide, I'm happy to see how you progress so far. But I believe it was time for you to come back to me..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it take a month to make new chapter! But that enough to make me tired *sigh*  
> My exam result will be released at the start of March, wish me get good result!

Probably this was not the best idea for him to do this.

But then again, when was the last time he made any good decisions anyway?

Hunting down his first master, the person who turned him into vampire, and planning to kill him afterward was not a good idea. Dragging someone into his mess only add the point for it. Doing this thing alone was already a horrible plan, why the hell did he think to bring someone into this would do him any good?

Still, he already live long enough to know that leaving the person that you care most alone on their own would be the most horrible idea. Most of the time, they ended up dead.

He had seen that happen to every people in this life. And he already experienced it once. He refused to repeat the same mistake again.

He wonder what will happen if he keep Kaneki by his side throughout this whole fiasco.

***

"Would you mind to close the curtain, Kaneki?"

"Since you ask me nicely, sure,"

Kaneki got up from the bed and proceed to pull the curtain to lessen the sunlight that enter into this room. The room become dimmer and darker with less sunlight from the outside. When the young ghoul turned around, he chuckled lightly with the sight of vampire covering himself with the blanket.

How ironic, Kaneki thought, that someone who possess a bright and cheerful personality would be weak against sunlight. Here he thought Hide was the embodiment of sunlight.

"Come on, you idiot! You can get out from my blanket," Kaneki stepped toward the bed and pulled off the blanket from the vampire. Hide shrieked in surprise and crossed his arm, but he did nothing back except pouting.

"I'm sleepy..." Hide yawned as he stretched his arm. It was not his fault that his bedtime was during the day, not night like most creatures.

"Well, get your ass off from my bed first. This is my place, not a hotel," Kaneki folded the blanket and placed it onto the bed back. Without any warning, he suddenly threw a bottle of blood toward the sleepy vampire. With a quick reflex, Hide managed to grab it before it fall onto the wooden floor.

"I thought you might need some before you left," was the only reply from Kaneki when Hide raised his eyebrow in question. The ghoul went to his bathroom and took a shower. His room might be messy, but that did not mean he should not care for his hygiene. Going to work with unpleasant smile would make the customer run away. The last thing a cafe a need was a smelly barista.

The cold water hit Kaneki's body and the ghoul started to shudder. As he get the stench off from his body, he got into thinking in the shower.

Last night, he got the chance to know Hide well. The vampire even told him stuff that no one know much about his kind. He guess that meant he and Hide were more than acquitance. Maybe he could consider Hide as a friend (?).

He should be scare with that man. He saw what Hide capable of and he was pretty sure that Hide was doing some dangerous stuff. Any normal people who valued their life would leave this situation and pray that they never fall into this business.

Kaneki, well, he was not like normal people. Heck, he was not even part of it too. Being a ghoul had lead him to countless situation where he need to risk his life. So why would this one made any different?

After the cold shower, he took a towel and covered his lower half. He still had some decency inside him to not be naked in front of the guest, mind you.

"I know you're strong, but man! Those are some killer abs!" Hide whistled as his eyes locked to Kaneki's six packs. He ignored Kaneki's sharp glares after he made that comment. Why hide the truth when he can just say it out loud?

"Compliments won't get you anywhere, bloodsucker," Kaneki retorted.

"Can't blame me for trying at least," the blondie grinned "Although, I rather suck something else beside blood from you,".

Well, that just it.

The neighbour next door might asked themselves why they heard a loud thud followed by with a loud shriek.

***

"Where the hell did you get that bruise?!"

"Accidents happen,"

Touka just turned the 'CLOSE' sign to 'OPEN' when Kaneki entered into Anteiku followed by with Hide. To her, it was such an unusual sight since Hide always got onto Kaneki's nerve and that ghoul never hide the fact that he did not like Hide.

What surprised her more was the existence of large bruise on Hide's head.

"Let me guess, Kaneki?", Touka heard Kaneki's snort after that before he went into the staff room. Hide nodded in reply and sat next to the counter next to Touka. She asked if he wanted some band aid or something, but the blondie just shook his head. He assured her that he was fine and there was nothing to worry about.

"With that giant bruise, I find it's hard to believe that you're okay," Touka spoke in suspicion with Hide's word.

"He'll live, Touka. You don't have to fuss about him," Kaneki interrupted her when he came back with brooms and swept the floor. Other workers were just doing their job while watching those three's conversation.

Unbeknownst by Kaneki, they were quite amused to see Hide bothered that black-haired ghoul recently. No matter how many times Kaneki expressed his annoyance toward this recent customer, he still put up with him and let him live. There must be something going on between them.

"Seriously Kaneki, is this how you greet customer?" Touka sounded irritated to their ears. Kaneki chose to ignore her and focused with his own task. He even whistled while he was sweeping as if he wanted to add some salt to the wound.

"Relax, Touka. It's not like he kill me or something," Hide smiled a little when Touka rolled her eyes in reply.

"I can't tell whether you are being an idiot or brave for saying stuff like that," the young girl had a worried look plastered over her face. Not wanting to show her expression, she turned around and started making coffee. She knew Kaneki longer than Hide, so to her, it was not a matter of _If_ when that happen.

"Trust me, Touka. He can't kill me," Hide murmured quietly while he diverted his attention to Kaneki. If anything, she should be worry about her colleague's safety.

She was about to ask for his order when Hide get up from his spot and left Anteiku. Touka pondered what was Hide's murmur about before that. Shrugging her shoulder, she continued her work like usual.

***

Okay, everything did not end up like usual.

How in the world did she ended up here was beyond her imagination.

After her shift was ended, Touka went to her place and studied for her future test. However, she felt like her head could explode with all the books. The young ghoul decided to take a midnight stroll. She was already stressed enough with her exam, maybe a little break would be nice. Plus, there was very little people around here at this moment. She did not have to worry about her safety or anything to be outside.

She grabbed her jacket and locked the main door once she was out. Turning her heels, she moved down to the stairs and began her stroll around the city. As expected, it was cold and hardly anyone was here at this ungodly hour. Creepy, but there was no need for her to be in fear. She was a ghoul, after all. She can protect herself from any harm.

She was so deep in her own thought that her legs unconsciously dragged her to a reclusive and isolated place. She halted her movement when she realized she had no idea where she was now. The female ghoul started to look around to find from where did she entered into this place. Suddenly, a very loud noise struck into her ears. Curiously, she searched the source of the noise that was not far from her position.

With silent steps like ninja, Touka walked toward the place. It was getting louder as she got close to it. When she peeked to the other side, she gasped loudly and quickly hide behind the wall. Not far from her, Kaneki and (surprisingly) Hide, were fighting with a group of men. There was no doubt they were not human because of their inhumane physical attribute and fighting skill. However, something was off about them...

"Well, it seems we got ourselves a little lost lamb here," before Touka even blinked her eyes, another cloaked figure pinned her down to the ground and locked her arms behind her back. She tried to push them off or fight them back, but it was to no avail. She felt like she was trying to move a giant boulder off from her body but unable to push it away. This person was stronger than her!

"Let go of her!" Hide shouted. He thought that he and Kaneki already finished all of them. Every cloaked figure, except one, were laying on the ground in defeat. None if them were conscious anyway. How can he missed one of them?!

Unexpectedly, another arrow appeared out of nowhere and shoot straight to Touka's attacker. He fell onto the group and panted for his breath. Even if he pulled the arrow off from his chest, the pain was agonizing to him as the poison began to seep into his body. Not long after that, the cloaked figure finally took his last breath.

Touka turned around and saw a woman with scar on her face clad in dark clothes. Her hair was tied and there was crossbow in one of her arm. She had a stare that fixed toward Hide and by the look of it, she did not seemed pleased or anything like that.

"I don't know what the hell is going on, but something is definitely wrong about you, Magician," she growled in unsatisfaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, I wanted to put Amon and Akira too in here. But then I realized I still don't understand how CCG work despite the fact I have read all chapter of Tokyo Ghoul.  
> Even if I update this story really late, I promise I won't abandon it and try my best to finish it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I ever tell any of you how much I don't care about grammar, hence why I never have beta for my fanfic?  
> Despite that, I always got highest mark in English I my high school.

It was a cold and quiet night. But this situation was much more than that.

Hide stood there without a word, eyes locked to the huntress not far from him. Kaneki already helped Touka to get up and answered her questions at the corner of this place. He could sensed her irritation and curiosity flowing out from her.

"What do you mean, that there's something wrong with me?" Hide chose to play dumb with her. She is strong, but he did not scare of her. He was thinking it was better for her to be out of his business. He needed to think of a way for her to leave his problem.

"You know what I'm talking about, Magician," Isabella pointed out her index finger to those unconscious figure on the ground "tell me, since when did you become... 'weak,'?"

"Weak? You're kidding me right?" Hide scoffed.

"You had the ability to kill them with a flick of your finger either with your strength or your magic. You always used them just so you could make your victim suffer and kill them afterward. You never give any chance to them before," the huntress paused before she glared sharply to him.

"Why now? What makes you stop from doing that? What makes you merciful?" she questioned his action. From what she seen, this vampire was completely different from what she heard. Hunters and supernatural creatures who witnessed the Magician's cruelty kept telling around that he was nothing more than a savage monster who loved to play with his 'playthings'. Killing was nothing more than a sport for him.

Oddly enough, the Magician was not like that anymore. It still baffled her that the Magician did not killed her from their previous fight. She wanted to know what made him changed his attitude.

Hide scratched his left cheek, unsure of his next action. Humans were fragile creatures to his eyes. He even deemed hunters as one too. No matter how many weapons they equipped and skills they possessed, they still have high probability to die early.

And that was how he saw Isabella. She was a fragile human to his eyes. Even if she came from one of the powerful hunter's family. Somehow, he felt like it would be a shame if she die at such a young age.

In his previous time, he would be more than glad to kill another descendant of Cortwright's family. He always left one member to live just so to make them believed that they might have a chance to kill him through next grandchildren and so on. It was amusing for him to see their undying need to achieve that goal.

Huh, undying. Hide wondered if he was one too.

"What so funny?" Isabella frowned. The Magician was getting more and more perplexing to her. The sight of him laughing was rare, she was surprised that this vampire can do that anyway.

"Oh, nothing," Hide smiled. Which, only make Isabella creeped more. The huntress still held her crossbow tightly, preparing for the worst to come.

Hide locked his gaze to her only with unreadable expression, his legs motioned closer to her. Suddenly, he stopped when he was only a few metres away from her.

"You know, I could just throw away your weapon and kill you instantly, but I can't," the vampired drew a heavy breath. Which, he made the huntress knitted her eyebrows in confusion.

Slowly, Hide buttoned off the first two buttons of his white shirt. He rummaged his right hand inside it and brought out a pendant to her. Hide unlocked the ornament and hidden beneath it was a ruby gem with magic pentagram carved on it. It shones dimly but Isabella knew what it was for.

"You?!" she gasped "You of all people wear this? Do you even know what you're doing?!" she shook her head. She cannot believe that someone like him would wear that enchantment item. She was so shocked that she even let go of her weapon to the ground immediately.

"After what I did to you, I don't want to take a risk anymore," Hide put back the pendant where it belong and buttoned up his shirt. He already expected she would reacted like that.

"You're a mess! You're not even you at all!" she scorned.

"Would you prefer me to be 'me'?" he whispered, but his eyes went dark. Isabella shifted slightly and backed off a bit. Now she understand why the vampire did not finished off the other.

Out of nowhere, someone coughed not far from them. The vampire and the huntress turned around and saw two irritated ghouls stood not far from them. For a second, they kinda forgot their existence.

"Care to share what are you guys talking about?" Kaneki crossed his arm, face clearly annoyed for not knowing what happen. Touka just stood there while watching those three. She did got some gist what was happening based from Kaneki's word.

Maybe it was just her, but she was wondering why are they still standing in a room of a group of unconscious vampire that would wake up at say moment?

Still, she chose to not interrupt their moment. Maybe it was better for her to stay here and watch. Although she has school tomorrow morning.

Then again, what was school to compre with the live drama? Or living mystery?

"Kaneki, this is Isabella. She's a huntress and my arch-enemy, sort of. Isabella, this is Kaneki and Touka. They're...."

Before Hide even ended up his sentence, a sharp pain striked his heart literally. He clutched his left chest and groaned loudly. Loud, shrieking scream poured out from his throat. The throbbing pain that hit his head was unbearable for him to handle. His eyes was clenched tightly as he endured this hellish torture.

**Do you really think that you could defy me?**

**A monster will always stay a monster!**

**Don't tell me you forgot how delicious to see the other's pain?**

**"STOP!! IT HURT!!"**

The other three went panic as Hide screeched in pain. As they tried to think of a solution to help him, a pair of eyes were watching then from far away.

The owner of the eyes just gripped the beating heart in their hand, waiting for the time for the young vampire to snap. Just the thought of it made them smirked to their ears.

"You should know better, foolish boy,"

***

_Hello, sir..._

_Scram, you fool! Or else I kill you!_

_Ha... ha... hahaha!!_

_You lost your head there, kid?!_

_Funny thing about rich bastard, they always think they can do anything with money..._

_**Bang! Bang!** _

_Really, sir? Do you think a simple bullet can kill me now? After you just witnessed a mess that I've done with your people and your family? After you just heard how they screamed for mercy as I slaughtered them all?_

_What do you want, monster?!_

_What do I want? Hmm, I wonder what do I want? Oh, I know!_

_*chokes* *cough* *blood spluttered*_

_Just like what you did to me, I simply taking what's important to you._

***

"You're awake,"

Hide groaned in pain as he woke up from his unconscious state. He blinked his eyes a few times and rubbed his temples. When he properly opened his eyes, he found himself on Kaneki's bed for the second time.

Touka had a confused look, Isabella was leaning to the wall with calculating expression while Kaneki appeared to be concern about him. Nonetheless, everyone was staring at Hide only. It made the vampire a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh God, what happen to me?" Hide asked, hoping that he did not do anything bad previously. The last thing he remembered was the painful ache he had to endure.

"You were in agonizing pain. Luckily, she managed to stab a potion into you before you did any worse. Of course, it wasn't enough to cure your pain," Kaneki told him.

Isabella stepped forward. Then, she took an ancient book that Kaneki once showed Hide before. She flicked a few pages and read some of the content. She raised her head and placed back the book.

"I'm surprised, you know. To see that the journal that was written by the Witch was here. It does contain a lot of false information about vampire, but it also have a lot of guide about magic and spell. Without it, I doubt you will regain back your sanity," Isabella added.

Hide looked down for a while, gloom started to clouded his face. He turned his read and stared to the dusty brown book. He started to chuckle softly when he looked at it.

"To think that Eto's work would help me like this..." Hide smiled fondly.

"Who is Eto, by the way?" Kaneki asked out of curiosity.

Again, silence hang around them. Hide fiddled with his finger, hesitated to tell them a bit part of his past. He wanted to keep it as secret but at the same time, they deserve to know his backstory. After all, he was the one who dragged them into this mess.

Sighing deeply, Hide uttered "She was a witch back then. A very powerful one too. No human knew her existence because she surrounded her place with illusion wall in the forest. She never liked human, but she loved hanging out with vampire most.

Of all vampires, she was close with my Maker, or my first Master. I got to know her through him. She was nice to me, treated me with kindness that I never received when I was human.

When I cut myself off from my Maker, she took me as her servant. Even as her servant, she taught me a lot about magic and spell. I learnt most of it from her. She was better than my Maker.

Even if she was the Witch, she was not bad like what human thought. She was like a mother I never had before,"

"But the Servant betrayed her in the end, right?" Isabella interrupted him. Hide nodded slowly, regret all over his emotion now. If only he could turned back time...

"She was the one that got burned up by the angry mob?" Kaneki questioned him again for confirmation. The ghoul remembered that Hide told him the writer got burned up. He heard an audible 'yes' from Hide in return.

"Man, that fucked up," Touka whistled.

"Got to agree with that," Hide placed both of his palm onto his face. He groaned in sorrow before he pulled them down onto his lap.

"Isabella..." Hide called her without raising his face.

"Yes?"

"If I give you a deal that you can't resist, would you help me?"

"What deal?"

This time, Hide lifted his head and eyes fixed on her "Help me to find my Maker and I let you kill me,"

**"HIDE!!!"**

Hide, Isabella and Touka turned their head toward Kaneki. He had a surprised look that mix with anger. He stood abruptly and held both of Hide's shoulder. His eyes locked to the vampire with disagreement.

"You can't be that desperate, Hide!" Kaneki was in utter disbelief now.

"Desperate time calls for desperate measure," Hide replied calmly.

"But---"

Hide pushed him off and pulled out the pendant that hidden beneath his white shirt. He showed the ghouls the same thing that Isabella seen previously. The ruby gem that lay inside the ornaments with pentagram carved on it.

"Before I left, my Master gave this pendant to me. Its function was to hold back my power, both strength and magic. That way, I don't have to worry about using my power to its fully potential. He told me to use it if I'm afraid to lose control one day," Hide explained to them.

He continued "I didn't want to wear it at first, until I almost kill Isabella back then. That's when I realized the demon inside me can be unleash. Without my Master's presence to help me, it would be a matter of time before it can no longer be control,"

Hide put back the pendant back where it belong and added "I don't want to hurt people like I did before. That's why I'm asking Isabella's help. She was more experienced than the two of you. Not to mention, she knows how to deal with magic. I admit that ghouls are strong, but vampires are on different level. The last thing I want is to see another friend of mine die under my watch,"

Kaneki wanted to argue with him, but he had no words to convince Hide to back down. Since this was Hide's personal problem, Kaneki had not right to act as if he know a better solution than this. He did not even knew vampires were exist until Hide came to him.

What was this painful feeling when Hide wanted to sign up for death wish?

"So, what do you say? You in, Isabella?" Hide asked again.

_Please say no_

It took a few minutes before Isabella slowly smiled and extend a handshake "It's a deal, then,".


	10. Chapter 10

This is not a new chapter or anything. I just wanna say, I am not doing this anymore. I had been busy and neglected this work for a very long time. I also had lost my love and passion for this fandom. I am truly regret that i am unable to continue this fic anymore, but I do not want anyone to wait or expect anything from this. Again, I am very sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> I changed the end note. I hope you guys like this. Comment and Kudos would be really appreciated. Oh, and this is not gonna update regularly


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